Meet Me in the Forest at 6:30
by VirginWhoCan'tDrive
Summary: Have you ever wanted to go back in time, even just 12 hours, to tell yourself something? Maybe just "it's raining, don't wear white," or "don't ask him out"? I wanted to tell myself, "Don't follow the white paint".
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is set in seventh year. I've never written a mystery before so feedback is appreciated.**

_Hi Lily, it's Sev... If you're not busy or anything could you meet me in the forest at 6:30 tonight? I know it's halfway through dinner, but that makes it less likely that anyone will see, which is good because it's sort of against the rules to go into the forest. I just realised that you might be tutoring that first year tonight. I hope you're not. I'll assume you've said yes unless you send back a 'no' or you get Potter to hex me or whatever. _

_Anyway, about 10 minutes to the left of the game keeper's hut there's a tree that has a white dot painted on it, and behind it there's another and another, and they mark a trail that leads to a clearing, where we could meet if that sounds ok... I hope you say yes, because I have something really important to tell you_

_Severus Snape_

So I got this letter out of nowhere. I mean, I knew Snape still wanted to be friends, but he'd stopped trying to talk to me ages ago. Everyone said I was right to stop being friends with him, what with him being into dark arts and calling me a 'mudblood', but I still wanted to repair the friendship. I just knew I couldn't until he stopped practising dark magic and associating with those Slytherins who call themselves Death Eaters. How was I supposed to be friends with someone who was part of a group that openly hated muggleborns?

I thought it was weird that Snape typed this out as Patrick Dove is the only kid in school with a typewriter. Snape used to always make fun of Patrick for handing in typed essays, but I think he was jealous because teachers sometimes marked down his own work because it was too messy to read. It must have been hard for Snape to convince Patrick to let him borrow it. Marlene, who is my only friend who doesn't hate Snape, said that she had never seen Snape put much effort into presentation before, and she had been his partner in Muggle Studies for a year. "I think it's sweet," she said, "He must have put aside his differences with Dove so that you could have a nice, proper letter". Sirius, who is less romantic and more distrustful of Snape said, "What is this, the 18th century? Even Dracula knew when to stop being a pompous twat".

At first is seemed nice that Snape had sent me a proper letter so that we could talk in private. I thought he was going to tell me he had turned against the Death Eaters, which is why we had to talk in the forest – he had to keep it secret so that they wouldn't hurt him. Now, however, I was starting to feel worried. It was 6:40, so he was 10 minutes late. With anyone else I would have only been a bit annoyed, but Snape had always shown up exactly on time; it was this precision and attention to timing that made him so good at Potions.

Maybe there was no reason to be anxious. I was probably just over-reacting because I was alone in the creepy old forest which is full of dangerous creatures. It didn't help that it was cold and getting dark, either. I checked my watch again – it was 6:45. If Snape didn't come in the next 5 minutes I was leaving. I began to pull pieces of grass out of the ground around me when a scream rang through the forest.

**A/N: I know this doesn't make that much sense but it will. Reviews are appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 1

**12 hours ago**

I brushed my hair out of my face and said, "James, did you hear about what Isaac Clearwater did in the Transfiguration corridor?"

"Lily, we've been over this," said James patiently.

"Yeah, but this is really interesting,"

"You know I don't get involved in other people's business," said James as he took a bite of toast.

"It involves fireworks," I said, trying to convince James that this is news he'd like.

"You can tell me if you're that desperate –"

"Finally! I knew you cared,"

"– I just won't enjoy it," James finished.

"But talking about other people's lives is no fun if you don't enjoy it too!" I exclaimed.

"Don't say that so loud, you'll get a reputation as a gossip,"

"Firstly, no I won't as hardly anyone is around," I said. I was right – we had woken up early so we could have a quiet breakfast. There were only some first years at the other end of the Gryffindor table, a few Hufflepuffs and a group of Ravenclaws. There were also about 15 Slytherins, but they were on the other end of the Great Hall and most were laughing about something so they wouldn't be able to hear, anyway. "And secondly, I thought you didn't care about what other people thought,"

"That's true; I don't care what they think of me. But you care what they think of you,"

"I bet you'd care if you were really unpopular,"

"Well, that wouldn't happen so I guess we'll never find out," said James with a grin.

"You're so bigheaded," I sighed.

"Aren't I, quote, the 'height of cool', unquote?" smirked James.

"You're seriously the worst boyfriend I've ever had,"

"I'm the only boyfriend you've ever had,"

"You're forgetting that Isaac was my boyfriend in third year!"

"If I remember correctly, he asked you out through a friend and you said yes even though you found him annoying. And then you tried to breakup with him after a week by passing him a note in class, but it blew off the desk before he saw it so the relationship dragged on for like 3 weeks," James laughed.

"Whatever, I have still more past relationships than you," I said.

"Only because I refused to – wait, isn't that Rory Nott? The child you tutor?" James asked, pointing at the first year Slytherin. I hadn't noticed before, but he was sitting by himself, unsuccessfully trying to hide that he was crying.

"What do you think is wrong?" I said.

"I don't know, maybe we should go see if he's ok," said James. He sounded worried.

"Didn't you just tell me you don't get involved with other people?"

"Yeah, but crying children are different,"

"How so?" I asked.

"I don't know; we can talk about it later," said James. When I didn't pursue the topic he said, "Let's go talk to him,"

I lead us over to the Slytherin table and said in my kindest voice, "Rory?"

The boy looked up. He was suppressing sobs as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"What's wrong?" asked James gently.

Rory refused to meet either of their eyes and shook his head.

"It's ok, you can tell us," said James.

Rory hesitated before he said, "I couldn't,"

"Are you sure?" asked James.

Rory nodded.

"Maybe you want to talk to your sisters about it?" I asked. I was referring to Adelaide and Frieda Nott, who were identical twins in 7th year. They had the same curly brown hair and heart shaped faces, but very different personalities. They were sitting further along the Slytherin table. Frieda had her nose buried in a book, and Adelaide was sitting on the edge of the group of laughing boys who called themselves Death Eaters. She was dating the boy in the middle, McNair, who was using his wand to make the food of a Hufflepuff girl jump away every time she tried to eat.

"They wouldn't help," said Rory.

"I'm tutoring you on Thursday, maybe you want to talk about it then?" I offered.

"Maybe," said Rory doubtfully.

James and I awkwardly watched Rory try to stop crying. I didn't know what to say – I'm not good with kids. James finally broke the silence.

"We'll just be over there if you change your mind," said James, pointing at the Gryffindor table where his breakfast was growing cold.

"Thanks," whispered Rory. He let out a sob, which he covered with a cough.

"Ok, bye Rory," said James. We crossed the Hall to our breakfasts at the Gryffindor table.

"What problems could an 11-year-old have that he can't tell us?" I asked, puzzled.

"I don't know; my biggest problem when I was 11 was that I was failing Charms,"

"I got the feeling it was more serious than that,"

"Same. He really did look miserable, didn't he?" James said. His eyebrows were furrowed with concern.

"Yeah; we shouldn't talk about it now, though,"

"Why not," I asked.

"Alice is here," said James, nodding to door to the Entrance Hall, "and I don't think Rory would appreciate us telling people he's sitting around the castle crying,"

I swivelled around in my seat and saw Alice coming through the door. She was talking animatedly to someone behind her. Sirius, Peter, Marlene and Remus followed her and seated themselves around us. They helped themselves to breakfast and pumpkin juice as James and I listened to their conversation to figure out why Alice and Remus looked so frustrated.

"I can't believe it," fumed Alice, "Frieda Nott scored higher than me in the Transfiguration test, _again_!"

"And she beat me in the Charms test!" exclaimed Remus.

"You mean Adelaide did,"

"Do you really think I'd score lower than Adelaide? She's always too busy talking, that's why she had detentions every other day," said Remus.

"My Transfiguration class is on at the same time as your Charms class, so you must have the wrong twin,"

"No, you do," argued Remus.

"If it makes you feel any better, I beat Frieda at Potions," I said.

"That's probably the only class she isn't the best in," said James.

"Frieda also beat me at Arithmancy," said Peter.

"What are you talking about," said Remus, "You have Arithmancy at the same time as my Charms class and Alice's Transfiguration class,"

"It's definitely Frieda, I swear," said Peter.

"Unless you're suggesting that there's a secret triplet, you must be mistaken," I said.

"It wouldn't be the first time," laughed Sirius, "after all, you still can't read analogue clocks."

"Yes I can! It just takes me a bit longer than you,"

"Sure you can, Peter," said Sirius condescendingly.

"Whatever, all that matters is that I beat Frieda in the next test," said Alice defiantly.

"You mean Adelaide," said Remus.

"No, I definitely mean Frieda," she argued.

I was glad when the post arrived. It distracted Remus and Alice from their argument over who had which twin in their classes.

A tawny owl swooped down, knocking over a goblet of pumpkin juice. "Lily, this letter is addressed to you," said Marlene. She untied the letter and passed it to James who passed it to me.

_Hi Lily, it's Sev... If you're not busy or anything could you meet me in the forest at 6:30 tonight? I know that's halfway through dinner, but that makes it less likely that anyone will see, which is good because it's sort of against the rules to go into the forest. Except I just realised that you might be tutoring that first year. I hope you're not. I'll assume you've said yes unless you send back a 'no' or you get Potter to hex me or whatever. _

_Anyway, about 10 minutes to the left of the game keeper's hut there's a tree that has a white dot painted on it, and behind it there's another and another, and they mark a trail that leads to a clearing, where we could meet if that sounds ok... I hope you say yes, because I have something really important to tell you_

_Severus Snape_

Sirius, who had been reading over Lily's shoulder said, "Fat chance!"

"What does it say?" asked Peter.

"Snape has asked me to meet him in the forest tonight,"

"Let me see," said Alice, and I passed her the letter. She read the letter aloud so that James, Remus, Peter and Marlene knew what was going on. When she finished she said, "I didn't know Snape had a typewriter."

"He doesn't, I expect he borrowed Patrick Dove's" said Remus.

"Who types out letters anymore?" asked James.

"Anyone who wasn't raised in a cave," Marlene said to James. She then turned to me and said, "I think it's sweet. He must have put aside his differences with Dove so that you could have a nice, proper letter,"

"It's not that hard to type something, Marlene," said Remus.

"I think putting thought into presentation is a kind of big deal for Snape. I've been his partner in Muggle Studies for a year and he's never so much as written in cursive," Marlene reasoned.

Sirius snatched up the letter and examined the neat, black writing from the typewriter as he said, "What is this, the 18th century? Even Dracula knew when to stop being a pompous twat".

"It's not pompous! Anyway, his presentation is irrelevant," I said. I took my letter from Sirius and stowed it safely in my bag.

"Yeah, the real question is if you'll go," said Marlene.

"Of course you won't," scoffed Sirius as if it was obvious.

"Why not?" I asked, taken aback.

"You do realise this is Snivellus we're talking about? He'll probably kill you, or turn you into a bat –" said Sirius.

" – or kidnap you, or suck your blood" continued Peter.

"James, what do you think?" said Remus.

"I hate the idea of Lily meeting Snivellus in the middle of the night in the forest –"

"It's not the middle of the night," I interjected.

" – but Lily is my girlfriend, not my property, so I can't really decide for her,"

"I want to meet him," said Lily. Upon the outraged look on Sirius' face I added, "I don't need your permission, Sirius."

"I personally think it's a great idea," said Marlene.

"You mean a dangerous one," said Sirius.

"No, I don't. It's sweet of Snape to want to privately want to talk to Lily. I mean, they were friends for a very long time," said Marlene. "And he did go to all the trouble of typing it out,"

"I think Sirius has a point, it is kind of dangerous. Not just because of Snape, but also because the forest is full of dangerous animals" said Remus.

"Yeah, think of the achromantula and the centaurs," said Peter.

"And the animaguses" added James with a wink.

"How about you ask to meet him in the Entrance Hall?" suggested Remus.

"That's so 'prefect' of you," said Marlene.

"What do you mean?" asked Remus, taken aback.

"Only a prefect would stand in the way of friendship in the name of safety," said Alice.

"That reminds me, I need to check that Isaac Clearwater knows he's patrolling tonight," said Lily.

I looked around the Great Hall, which had filled up considerably since James and I had arrived. I spotted Isaac eating breakfast at the Ravenclaw table and I called him over. I gave him the patrol timetable and asked him to remind Abigail that she was patrolling with him. As he left, however, a can of white spray paint fell out of his bag. James called Isaac back and returned it.

"I have no idea how he became Ravenclaw prefect," said Remus, when Isaac Clearwater was out of earshot.

"He's almost as unruly as you guys," said Marlene.

"We're not _that_ bad," said James.

"Well, not anymore," reasoned Sirius.

"And we're not bad enough to stop me from becoming prefect," said Remus.

"Fair enough," I said. "Anyway, did you hear about what he did in the Transfiguration corridor?"

The others shook their heads. This was the news I had been hoping to tell James earlier.

"He set off some muggle fireworks yesterday after the last bell. Pieces of ceiling fell down, the caretaker is still cleaning up," I said.

"That sounds like the kind of thing we'd have done a few years ago," said James.

"What happened to him?" asked Peter.

"He's got detentions every night for the next week," I said.

"I think he got off kind of easy," said Marlene.

"Yeah, whenever we damaged school property we got detention for at least two weeks and McGonagall sent letters to our parents," said Sirius.

"How many detentions do you think Snivellus would get if he bites Lily's neck tonight?" asked James.

"Well Professor Dumbledore quite likes him, so maybe 4?" joked Alice.

"I like to think my neck is worth at least 8 detentions," I laughed.

"He won't be able to bite anything if you ask to meet him in the Entrance Hall instead of the forest," said Remus.

"I don't want to do that," I said. I hesitated before continuing, "I kind of get the feeling he wants to say something serious tonight. That's must be why it has to be so private,"

"Maybe we should walk you there, just to make sure it's safe," offered James.

"But I have detention tonight, and so do Remus and Marlene," protested Sirius.

"Ok, just Alice, Peter and I will go. Is that ok, Lily?" James asked.

"Yes, but you guys have to leave as soon as we get there," I said.

"I can agree to that," said James.

"Looks like this works out for everyone. Lily gets to meet Snape while Sirius and Remus can stop complaining about safety" said Marlene.

"No wait, I have private Herbology lessons tonight," said Peter.

"Ok, just James and I will go," said Alice.

"Promise you'll leave as soon as we get there," I said sternly. "I don't want him to think that I brought my weird entourage to meet him,"

"Why? Are you worried we'll do something embarrassing?" teased Alice.

"Maybe I'll tell him you're in love with him," smirked James.

"I swear, if you do –"

Before I could finish my threat Alice began, "I think I'll throw garlic at him,"

"Haha, guys, very funny," I said sarcastically. "If you don't cut it out I'll be wandering into the forest alone tonight,"

"Don't worry, there will be no need for that," said James.

"Yeah, we'll be on our best behaviour," assured Alice.

I gave them both suspicious glares. I had been wishing to be friends with Snape again ever since I'd calmed down about the fight by the lake in fifth year and I couldn't let my friends ruin it – that is assuming this _is_ an opportunity to be friends again.

After a while Remus announced that we'd lost track of time and were all late for class. I arranged to meet James and Alice in the Entrance Hall at 6 before Marlene, James, Sirius and I set off for Herbology. Peter left for Arithmancy while Remus and Alice went upstairs for Charms and Transfiguration, arguing again about who had Frieda in their class.

**A/N: Reviews are appreciated. **


End file.
